. >> reporter: franklin delano roosevelt lifted people's spirits too. he used the first of his four inaugural addresses to start the healing of a nation badly broken from the great depression. >> the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. >> reporter: more than a generation later when nearly 2 million people crowded onto the national mall to see the swearing in of the first african-american president, it was a moment of national unity. but as this historian notes when the president gives his second inaugural address, the magic for the most part is lost. >> they are not as impressive not as compelling as first inaugural spices. >> don baer who was a speech righter for clinton says the most recent speeches whether by eisenhower, fdr, reagan clinton, or george w. bush don't soar to the same heights as they're measured against the reality of the first four years. >> well the first inaugural is sort of like a new baby right? there's so much expectation and potential. the second is like an adolescent, a teenager. we know it didn't quite turn out exactly t